The release of quarterback Peyton Manning, the greatest and most iconic Indianapolis Colt of all time, and the subsequent cuts of long-time fan favorites Joseph Addai, Gary Brackett, Melvin Bullitt and Dallas Clark.

The selection of Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck — the franchise’s cornerstone for the future — with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

And on the not-so-bright side, the fan backlash at owner Jim Irsay and the club, particularly for parting with Manning and for announcing just weeks ago the Colts would black out home games that weren’t 100-percent sold out despite a new league rule that allows a minimum 85-percent attendance to air games.

After all this uber-whirlwind of change and drama surrounding the Colts, it’s finally, thankfully, time to play some football.

We all know what a chaotic weekend it was in college football. #2, #4 and #5 all went down. And we knew the fallout would be very comprehensive. After their brutal defeat to the Union in the Civil War, champions of the Confederacy were known to say “the South shall rise again!”

And it’s happened, this weekend in 2011- although I’m sure this is nothing like what the southern gentlemen envisioned. The SEC Western division teams: LSU Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide, and the Arkansas Razorbacks are 1-2-3 in the tonight’s BCS standings.

Yeah, I guess you could say it’s the strongest conference in football; and the strongest division in football.